The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1887-11-24

or that job was any better when he said:
81 know that my Redeemer iveth, " than
when covered all over with the pustules
OF elephantiass he sat in the ashes scratch
ing the scabs of with broken piece of
pottery; or that Alexander Cruden, the
concordist, was any better man when he
compiled the book-that has helped 10000
students of the Bible, than when under
the power of physical disorder he was
handcuffed and strait Waistcoated in
Bethnal Green Insane asylum.
''Oh,'' says some Christian man, 'fno
one ought to allow physical disorder to
depress his soul. He ought to live so
near to God as to be always in the sun
shine Yes, that is good advice; but
warrant that you, the man who gives the
advice have a sound liver. Thank God
every day for healthful hepatic condition,
| for, just as Certainly as you lose it, you
| will sometimes, like David, and like Jer-
emiah, and like Cowper, and like Alex
| ander Crllden, and like 10000 other in
| valids, be playing a dead march or
| the same organ with which now you
| play a toccata. My object at this
! point is not only to emolliate the criti-
cisms of the well against those in poor
| health, but TO show Christian people who
are atrabiiarious what is the matter with
them. Do not charge against the heart
the crimes Of another portion of your Or
| ganism. Do not conclude that because
the path Of heaven is not arbored with as
! fine foliage, or the banks beautifully
showed under with exquisite chrysanthc-
NUNS as once, that therefore you are on
| the wrong road. The road will bring
you out at the same gate whether you
walk with the stride of an athlete Or
come up on crutches. Thousands Of
Christians, morbid about their expert
cnces, and morbid about their business,
and morbid about the presen4, and NOR
| bid about the future, need the sermon |
am now preaching.
Another practical use of this subject is
! for the young. The theory is abroad that
! they must first SOW their wild oats, and
afterward Michigan wheat. Let me break
the delusion Wild oats are generally
sown in the liver, and they can never be
pulled up. They SO preoccupy that organ
that there is no room for the impiantatiGl
of righteous crop. You see aged men
about us at so erect, agile, splendid, grand
old men. How much wild oats did they
SOW between IS years and 80? None,
absolutely none. God does not very often
honor with old age those who have in
early life sacrificed swine on the altar of
the bodily temple. Remember 0 young
man, that while IN after life, and after
years of dissipation, you may perhaps
have your heart changed, religion does
not change the liver. Trembling and
staggering along these streets today are
men, all bent and decayed and prema-
turely old, for the reason that they are
paying for liens they put upon their
physical estate before they were 80. By
early dissipation they put on theiI body a
first mortgage, and a second mortgage,
and third mortgage, to the devil, and
these mortgages are now being forecloscd,
and all that remains of their earthly
estate the undertaken will soon put out of
sight. Many years ago, in fulfllment Of
my text, dart struck through their liver.
and it is there yet. God forgives, h;5U
outraged physical law never, never, never.
That has a Sinai, but no Calvary. Solo
man in my text knew what he was talk
ing about He had in early life been q
profigate, and he rises up on his throne
of worldly splendor to shrek out warn
ing to all the centuries. David, bad in
early life but good in later life, cries out
with an agony of earnestness: ''Remem-
Der not the sins of my youth.
Stephen a. Douglas gave the name
''squatter sovereignty" to those who went
out west and took possession Of lands and
held them by right of preoccupation. Let
a flock Of sins settle on your heart before
you get to 25 years of age, and they will
in all probability keep possession of it by
an internal sduatter sovereignty. II
promise to pay at the bank $500 six
month from date says the promissory
note. II promise to pay my life thirty
years from date at the bank of the
grave" says every infraction of the laws
Of your physical being,
What? Will mans s body never com
pletely recover from early dissipation in
this world? Never How about the
world to come? Perhaps God will fix it
up in the resurrection body so that it viii
not have to go limping through all eter-
nifty; but get the liver thoroughly dala-
aged and it will stay damaged. Phyai-
clans call it cancer of the liver, or
hardening of the liver, or cirrhosis of the
liver, or inflammation of the liver, but
Solomon puts all these pangs into one
figure and says: It'll the dart strike
through his liver.
Hesiod seemed to have some hint of
this when he represented Prometheus f)r
his crimes fastened to a pillar and an
eagle feeding GA his liver, which was Te-
newed again each night, SO that the
devouring went on until finally Hercules
slew the eagle and rescued Prometheus,
And a dissipated early life assures 3
ferocity pecking away and clawirg away
) year in and year out, and Death is the
only Hercules who can break the power
. of its beak or unclench its claw. So also
, Virgil and Homer wrote fables about
| cultures preying upon the liver, but
| there are those here today with whom il
is no fable, but terrific reality.
, That young man smoking cigarette:
: and smoking cigars has no idea that ht
: is getting for himself smoked liver Tha
l | young man has no idea that he has by
, that he will go into the battle only hal
armed. Napoleon lost Waterloo day
l before it was fought. Had he attacked
9 the English army before it was re-enforceC
g and attacked it division by division, Ii,
might have won the day, but he waited
until he had only 100000 men agains
4 100000 And here is a young man who
+ if he put all his forces against the regi
/ ment of youthful temptations, in tn
, strength of God might he drive them back
c but he is allowing them to be re-enforc C
!. by the whole army of nlidlife temptations
4 and when all these forces are massc,
/ against him and no Grouchy comes t
t help him, and BIucher has come to hel
his foes, what but immortal defeat ca
= await him?
e Oh, my young brother, do not nal,
3 the mistake that thousands all arour
+ you are making, in opening the battl
:. against sin too late-for this world to
It late, and for the world to come too late
c What brings that express train from S.
IS Louis into Jersey City three hours lat
y They lost ifteen minutes early on til
route, and that affected them all the way